The company that built the Dallas Cowboys’ failed practice facility (right) has suffered another collapse of one of its large tentlike structures.

This one’s at a fairgrounds in northwest Pennsylvania, reports a little paper there called The Meadville Tribune. And fortunately, no one was hurt — unlike here, where one Cowboys staffer was permanently paralyzed below the waist, another suffered a broken neck without paralysis, and 10 others were injured less seriously.

A judge in Philadelphia previously blamed a third collapse there on design errors by the same company: Canada-based Cover-All Building Systems and its U.S. subsidiary, Summit Structures. It has denied wrongdoing and insisted its buildings are safe.

The Philadelphia collapse occurred after a heavy snow in early 2003, as did the latest Pennsylvania collapse. Last year’s disaster in Irving occurred during a thunderstorm.

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The company — which is seeking to reorganize and now uses the name S2 Engineers — also has issued its first statement about the collapse: “Scott Jacobs and JCI stand by the services rendered for Summit Structures regarding the Dallas Cowboys indoor practice facility. Mr. Jacobs and JCI do not have any further comment at this time as litigation is pending.”

Pennsylvania-based Summit and its Canada-based parent, Cover-All Building Systems, designed and built the practice facility in 2003. The two people most seriously injured in its May 2 collapse — Cowboys staffers Rich Behm and Joe DeCamillis — sued the two companies and JCI last month, alleging that they conspired to conceal the giant tent-like structure’s defects.

Litigation over the Dallas Cowboys practice facility collapse is about to begin.

Rich Behm (right), the most seriously injured victim, has hired high-profile Dallas lawyer Frank Branson. Branson, in turn, asked a Dallas County court late last month to order a pre-litigation deposition of Nathan Stobbe, president of facility builder Summit Structures and its parent, Cover-All Building Systems.

Court records show that the attorney also asked for all of the Canada-based company’s documents related to the tent-like facility, which came crashing down during a thunderstorm May 2.

Judge Sally Montgomery has taken no action on the petition, and no lawsuit has been filed. But Branson told me today that Stobbe had already submitted to questioning voluntarily. Branson said he had received some documents, too.

“The defendants at this time seem to be cooperating,” he said. “I’d like to get this case up and running as smoothly as possible for everybody’s sake.”

An early one was: Why didn’t the thunderstorm of May 2 wreck other structures nearby (right)?

Ensuing ones included: Who was the final engineer of record? What happened to the city of Irving records that should show this? (See my colleague Brandon Formby’s update on this issue.)

Did the Cowboys know when they hired designer/manufacturer/builder Summit Structures in 2003 that one of the company’s other big tentlike facilities had recently collapsed in Philadelphia, just six weeks after opening? Did Summit workers themselves build the Irving facility, or was the labor subcontracted? If so, to whom?

Newer questions include: Why did the Cowboys, many months before the Irving disaster, hire building-collapse expert Charles Timbie — the engineer who diagnosed design flaws behind the Philly warehouse failure? What exactly did he tell the team was wrong? Why did the team turn to a second consultant, a non-engineer and former drug dealer named Jeffrey Galland? Which of his recommended fixes were not done and why?

The Cowboys are giving a blanket “no comment” to all my questions. Canada-based Summit isn’t answering much of anything but did have local spokeswoman Laurey Peat put out this statement over the weekend (click below to read the whole thing):

My first question about the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility was why Saturday’s storm caused no other major structural damage nearby (right).

Since then the questions have multiplied: Why did the Cowboys hire a designer/builder that had just suffered a collapse of another of its large steel-framed, fabric-wrapped buildings, in Philadelphia? What happened to the city of Irving records that are supposed to show which engineer approved the design? Is it a coincidence that other records show the same engineer supervised design of both failed structures?

Our latest story makes me wonder: Is anybody in government going to seriously investigate what happened here?

No answers so far. So we’ll keep digging. Thanks to all who’ve joined the conversation here in recent days.

A Canadian engineer linked to design flaws in a 2003 Philadelphia warehouse collapse is the same guy listed as responsible for design of the Dallas Cowboys’ ruined practice facility, Metro reporter Brandon Formby and I are now showing on dallasnews.com.

The engineer says he didn’t work long at builder Summit Structures and didn’t have much to do with the project. Dallas’ Manhattan Construction Co., the general contractor, says it, too, had little involvement. The company listed as civil engineer on a building permit application says it had no involvement at all.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and their families. This is obviously a very difficult time for each of them and for the Cowboys organization. I have flown to Texas along with other representatives of our company to assist in anyway possible. We will be working with the Cowboy’s organization and local professionals and officials to fully assess this severe weather event. Here is a statement from the National Weather Service regarding the conditions at the time: